Author(s)
Nezih Guner
Yuliya Kulikova
Arnau Valladares-Esteban

In the US, the likelihood of a married woman entering the labor force in a given month increases by 60% if her husband loses his job, known as the added worker effect. However, only 1.5% to 3.5% of married women entering the labor force in a given month can be added workers. This raises the question of whether the added worker effect can significantly impact aggregate labor market outcomes. Building on Shimer (2012), we introduce a new methodology to evaluate how joint transitions of married couples across labor market states affect aggregate participation, employment, and unemployment rates. Our results show that the added worker effect significantly impacts aggregate outcomes, increasing married women's participation and employment by 0.72 and 0.65 percentage points each month. Additionally, the added worker effect reduces the cyclicality of married women's participation and unemployment, lowering the correlation between GDP's cyclical components and participation by 4.5 percentage points and unemployment by 8 percentage points.

Publication Type
Working Paper
File Description
First version, August 7, 2024
JEL Codes
D10: Household Behavior: General
E32: Business Fluctuations; Cycles
J21: Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
J22: Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Keywords
household labor supply
intra-household insurance
female employment
cyclicality